Part II The Right to Know, B Commissions of Inquiry, Principle 10 Guarantees for Victims and Witnesses Testifying on Their Behalf

Subject(s):

Right to truth — Witnesses — International criminal law, victims — Truth and Reconciliation Commissions

Principle 10 provides guarantees for victims and witnesses testifying on their behalf. The participation of victims and witnesses in truth seeking processes is important in efforts to uncover the truth about the past. Many commissions have been mandated to gather victim testimony as a key objective and to provide victims with a forum in which to give account of the abuses suffered and to restore their dignity. When there is no testimony, commissions are unlikely to fulfill their broader mandates of establishing a historical record of past violations. After giving a contextual and historical background on Principle 10, this chapter discusses its theoretical framework and how commissions operate in practice in terms of witness protection.